I am an evacuee for the first time in my life and this not in the low lands of my old country, but here in Calgary at 1100m above sea level, whrere the water reached out to get me:) Fortunately I found a welcome home in Shirley’s place for the duration. Shirley lives high and dry in the Woodbine area of Calgary SW, where she has lived for as long as we know each other since 1994.
Shirley and I still had a drink at James on Fourth Thursday aft while waiting for the Master’s Gallery to open their reception. It was shuttered at around six pm, foreboding the water to come.
The flood waters hit Calgary Thursday night, at which time I was still in my apartment, since my avenue in Mission was not expected to be flooded and it did remain dry. However, the power was cut overnight, which left me without phone, internet and hot meals. Moreover all the businesses were shuttered along Fourth street and the bridges out of my neighbourhood were closed Friday morning.
Since Herman and I had a planned lunch, I drove to his apartment to get in contact and we met at the Railway Café in Heritage park. It shuttered early at 1:30pm, by which time Herman and I agreed that his regular Sunday talk at the Palliser downtown would have to be cancelled. Herman had quite a few article for me to read, for which I got lots of time as it turned out.
I drove down to the Co-op store on 24th SW, close to Shirley’s, because I was relying on pay phones to get in touch. This we did, as she had offered me to stay at her place for the next few days. So, from about 2pm Friday Shirley’s home has become my temporary residence from where I gratefully can phone and do my emailing to family and friends.
One thing I cannot do is post my writings to my own website, because there is no wireless connection here, but I may try the Good Earth at Glenmore landing.
On Saturday I slept a lot, catching up from the events and my still half digested West Coast trip. The planned work for this day was to post my trip’s photos to my website, but that remained undone.
Sunday and Saturday I spent reading and conversing with Shirley; we always have lots to talk about and also share about family and mutual friends. Yesterday, Sunday afternoon I made a trip down to my place, but all power was still off. However, Forth Street near the James Pub was now dry and crews were hard at work in the blocked of areas. I had a free coffee at the ‘barricades‘, courtesy of Paul’s Purple Perk and then returned to my temporary abode late due to very heavy traffic along Crow Child and Glenmore trails. I found Shirley working in her little front yard and lend a hand for a bit until supper time.
Shirley cooked her kitchen alcove, while we talked and listened to the flood of news about the flood of water in Southern Alberta. My brought wine complemented Shirley’s pasta nicely, as did my chocolates and fudge for dessert.
Hats off to Shirley for arranging my friendly bedroom with care and good taste and for her generous way of letting me use the various facilities in her home.
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